Justice News

ALBUQUERQUE – Kyle Morrow, 30, of Albuquerque, N.M., pled guilty this morning to possession of a visual depiction of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Morrow’s plea agreement requires that he be sentenced to 120 months in prison because of his prior child pornography conviction.

Morrow was arrested on federal child pornography charges on Mar. 7, 2014, based on a criminal complaint alleging possession of child pornography. At the time of his arrest, Morrow was residing in a half-way house in Albuquerque as he was transiting from a federal prison for a child pornography conviction. According to the criminal complaint, FBI initiated an investigation into Morrow after staff at the half-way house found child pornography on his cellular phone and confiscated it. The FBI seized Morrow’s phone in Feb. 2014 pursuant to a search warrant and submitted the phone for forensic examination by the New Mexico Regional Forensic Laboratory. A forensic examination revealed that Morrow’s phone contained more than 1000 images consistent with child pornography.

Today Morrow entered a guilty plea to a federal information charging him with possession of a visual depiction of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct. In his plea agreement, Morrow admitted that on Feb. 4, 2014, he possessed visual depictions of child pornography while residing in a halfway house and while still in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons completing a 37-month sentence for a prior child pornography conviction. More specifically, Morrow admitted possessing child pornography images on his cellular phone.

Morrow has been in federal custody since his arrest and remains detained pending a sentencing hearing which has yet to be scheduled. Under the terms of his plea agreement, Morrow will be sentenced to 120 months in federal prison followed by a term of supervised release to be determined by the court. As part of the conditions of release Morrow will be required to register as a sex offender after completing his prison sentence.

This case was investigated by the Albuquerque office of the FBI and the New Mexico Regional Forensic Laboratory, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacob A. Wishard.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and DOJ’s Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/.

The case also was brought as a part of the New Mexico Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force’s mission, which is to locate, track, and capture Internet child sexual predators and Internet child pornographers in New Mexico. There are 74 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies associated with the New Mexico ICAC Task Force, which is funded by a grant administered by the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office. Anyone with information relating to suspected child predators and suspected child abuse is encouraged to contact federal or local law enforcement.